


Don't Fear The Reaper

by TenSpencerRiedPlease



Category: Black Widow (Comics), Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Angst, But Not Much, Death, Gen, He still got the shit end of the stick, Humor, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Natasha is Into Memes for Reasons, Poor Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers Feels, Tony Feels, there's a little bit of slash elements with Nat/ Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2017-05-12
Packaged: 2018-10-31 01:39:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10889103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenSpencerRiedPlease/pseuds/TenSpencerRiedPlease
Summary: Steve has been alive for a long time and he stopped aging some time in his mid twenties, around twenty four he thinks, right after that strange growth spurt and weight gain.





	Don't Fear The Reaper

“Tony, you can’t just _not_ kill him,” Natasha tells him, hands on her hips.

“Well you can’t just enjoy that ‘we die like men’ joke,” Tony counters despite that having nothing to do with the subject at hand.

Natasha rolls her eyes, “I’m a Valkyrie, of course I enjoy the ‘we die like men’ joke, it’s what I _do_. Now kill Steve,” she says.

“Did Fury send you un purpose?” Tony asks.

“Of course he did, not stop stalling and kill Steve. You’re a fucking reaper, you can’t just let people live forever,” Natasha says.

“Can’t I?” Tony asks. “I mean I control who dies and when the same way you do in battle so _theoretically_ I can make someone live forever. I control how people decompose and die over time and if I halt the process I’m curious to see what happens,” he says.

“This is some experiment you’re running with Bruce, isn’t it?” Nat asks, deadpan.

“I can neither confirm nor deny Bruce’s involvement,” Tony says lightly.

“Kill Steve,” Natasha tells him.

“No, I’m going to keep him alive until I’m good and ready to kill him,” Tony says petulantly. Natasha eventually gives up because he’s stubborn and with World War Two going on she had people to go escort off to where ever it was she took them. Humans though Valhalla but that was a myth and Natasha wasn’t willing to tell Tony where people went any more than he was willing to tell her that he didn’t take people anywhere. All that shit about the afterlife was a human myth to make themselves feel better because there was nothing but death. It weighed heavy on Tony’s mind because even he had a death date and he didn’t much like knowing that there was nothing for him after.

*

Steve has been alive for a long time and he stopped aging some time in his mid twenties, around twenty four he thinks, right after that strange growth spurt and weight gain. When it became obvious to him that, for some reason, he wasn’t aging _or_ dying despite the extreme circumstances of the war he chose to fake his death after Hitler’s death and go underground for a while. Leaving Peggy behind had been hard, but there was something wrong with him and he had no clue what it was.

People lived, they died, and they got old. If he wasn’t doing any of that then clearly something was wrong with him. And then there was that incident with Bucky. If anyone could have had immortality it should have been Bucky. Sometimes he still dreamt of Bucky falling from that train because no matter how long he’s been alive that memory has been burnt into his skull forever.

Over the years he also learned that leaving people behind was inevitable when you were immortal and that weighed as heavily on him as Bucky’s untimely death. It was difficult to get close to people when he knew eventually they would die while he lived on. The worst thing that he’s had to do so far was watch Peggy die. She had Alzheimers when he had come back the first time. She had lived a full life without him, which was what he wanted, but he was too selfish to leave it at that. He had just wanted to see her one more time before she went and she… she _remembered_ him. He hadn’t anticipated that, nor had he anticipated her excitement over his not dying.

She told him that he hadn’t lived at all, that he needed to but he had no idea how to live when he couldn’t die. When everyone else around him was living something temporary it was hard to connect, _truly_ connect because you knew that connection would end permanently for them. All he had to look forward to was the pain of losing people who were as important to him as Peggy and Bucky over and over and over again and that was no life at all. But Peggy insisted he try before she finally went. He left after that because Peggy was the last link he had to the last time in his life he was able to truly live.

*

“You ruined a perfectly good human, Tony. Look at it, its got depression,” Natasha says, gesturing to Steve.

“Well it wasn’t like I _anticipated_ that. It’s not my fault he got all angsty and decided to close himself off from the world, I just wanted to see what happened if I didn’t kill him. Nothing, apparently. Interesting,” Tony says. He’s been alive for nearly one hundred years and he wasn’t a day older, nor did he show any physical signs of distress. Mentally the dude was a mess but that was out of Tony’s control. He only dealt with the flesh and blood; the mind was a whole new animal.

“He thinks he can’t make connections to anyone because you’ve gone and made him immortal. Put him out of his misery, Tony,” Natasha tells him.

“I’m not going to kill him because he got a little bit of depression, Jesus Christ Nat, that’s extreme. He just needs a friend. You ever find out what happened with that one that fell off that train?” he asks. Steve liked that one, not that he was still around but maybe if Tony slipped him some information on his precious friend he might get a little closure and stop with this woe is me shit.

“No clue, but he didn’t die when he landed. I was there, there was more life for him to live so I left him be. He lost an arm though,” Natasha says.

“No word of him after? If you showed up there once you’d probably be the one to reap him,” Tony points out.

“Not if he wasn’t in battle,” Natasha says.

“But he _was_ a soldier. I rarely reap those, its almost always Valkyries that get the soldiers, especially from the World Wars. Once a soldier always a solider from that time,” Tony says. Those wars fucked people right up, and all the wars that followed. No one came back from something like that unmarked and usually the Valkyries picked up on that.

“I suppose I could ask around, but it is weird that I wasn’t the one that reaped him,” Natasha decides eventually. “You still need to kill Steve,” she says.

“Why do you have it out for the poor dude? All he needs is a good time and a lady friend or something and he’ll be _fine_ ,” Tony says.

“Fine then, why don’t you go befriend him,” Natasha says. Huh. Now there was an idea.

*

Tony hated the children. Adults, they’ve always done at least one thing in their life to deserve their death but kids? They weren’t even around long enough to have done something truly despicable, not usually anyways. This kid was maybe seven and the poor kid looked terrified.

“It’s alright,” Tony assures her because it’s true. Death was nothing to be scared of, that was where the pain stopped and for a lot of people that’s what they wanted. Tony dealt in a lot of old people who wanted to die with dignity and he didn’t blame them for that. But there was no dignity in essentially killing a child.

“I’m going to die, aren’t I?” she says.

He’d like to lie, but he’s not that cruel so he nods. “Do you want to go on adventure first?” he asks. He wasn’t supposed to do this but she’s a _kid_ , she should get to do something fun before she goes. She nods happily and Tony smiles, extending his hand.

*

Tony looks like shit, Steve notes, so he silently makes him tea and hands it over. The fact that he didn’t immediately start complaining about it being leaf water said all he needed to know. Actually the fact that Tony has barely said anything at all said everything Steve needed to know. Tony… he was so bright, and vibrant, and _alive_ and now he looked so empty.

“What’s wrong?” Steve asks and for the first time in a long, _long_ time it doesn’t feel empty. He’s had plenty of friends but he’s never allowed himself to get close to them. With Tony things were different though, there was just something about him that drew Steve in and he wanted to know more about him, do more with him. Tony made him feel connected to things again and he didn’t much allow Steve to push him away when he tried. And he _tried_.

“Bad day at work,” Tony says softly.

Steve frowns, realizing he had no idea what, exactly, he did. “Where do you work?” he asks, curious so see what could have affected Tony so badly.

“I’m a nurse,” Tony says but something sounds off about it, “lost a patient today.” Steve winces and sits gently beside him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders because if there was something Steve understood with clarity it was death.

*

Tony was damn annoyed when he finds Natasha laughing it up with Steve because _excuse_ her, that was his person to reap when he damn well felt like it. “What are you doing here?” he asks in too sharp a tone. It throws Natasha off but it throws Steve off more.

“No need to be rude,” he says, just a hint of warning in his voice. Tony wants to tell him to mind his own business but he has no idea that he and Natasha knew each other, had for centuries, and were sort of together sort of not.

“Yeah Tony, no need to be rude,” Natasha tells him cockily. He’s tempted to tell her to fuck off but that would be socially unacceptable so instead he rolls his eyes at her.

“You two know each other?” Steve asks, frowning.

“We have a rather long history, yes,” Natasha says, eyeing Tony.

“A rather sordid one,” he adds, earning an annoyed look from Natasha.

“Whose fault is that?” she asks.

“Yours,” Tony shoots back easily.

“Huh. You didn’t tell me you were dating anyone,” Steve says to Tony, head tilted to the side.

“He isn’t,” Natasha says for him. Steve nods, looking not at all convinced.

*

When Steve finds out Tony is a reaper it’s a total accident. There had been a shooting and Steve had been in the immediate area when it happened and he had gone to help, figuring me might as well make the most of his immortality. He hadn’t expected to see Tony there, though.

“What are you doing here?” he asks as he staunches some guy’s wound. Tony doesn’t respond, he just moves from one person to another as the EMTs arrive.

“Tony?” Steve asks and the nearest EMT frowns at him.

“Who are you talking to?” he asks. Steve frowns back at him and looks over to Tony but when three people walk past him with no reaction he realizes that no one else sees him. He shakes his head and the EMT kneels down next to him to take over and Steve lets him.

Tony kneels down beside the EMT a few seconds later and looks at Steve. “I’m sorry,” he says and he reaches out to the bleeding man. Steve doesn’t see anything but something obviously happened because Tony gets up and leaves and the EMT starts trying to bring the guy back to life. Steve was pretty sure that wasn’t going to happen.

*

“Can you kill me?” Steve asks Tony the next time they see each other.

“Jesus _Christ_ Steve,” Tony says, looking upset.

“Look, I’ve thought a long time about this and I’ve been alive for almost a century. I was never meant to live this long and I want to die. How come I’m not dead?” he asks, frowning. It didn’t seem likely that someone forgot about him or however this worked.

Tony looks at the ground for a long moment, “I uh… I wanted to see what would happen if I just… didn’t kill someone. Wishing for death is the answer, apparently,” Tony says.

For a long moment Steve has no idea what to say to that because he needs to process that for a moment. “You… _did_ this to me?” he asks, barely keeping his anger tempered.

Tony rolls his eyes, “no idiot, I didn’t _do_ anything to you, that’s the problem. Don’t do anything to a person and they don’t die.”

Steve clenches his jaw tight, “you’re going to kill me now and stop this damn experiment of yours,” he says through ground teeth.

“Fine,” Tony sighs, “but you might want this first,” he says and he hands Steve a file. He takes it and opens it, nearly dropping it when he saw what was in it.

“Bucky,” he whispers, looking over the old pictures of his best friend. According to the file and Tony’s notes something similar to what happened with Steve happened with Bucky. Some reaper kept him alive, but as a Nazi weapon, not just because they wanted to see what would happen like Tony. He only died a year ago and Steve missed all of that.

“It isn’t your fault,” Tony tells him softly.

“I could have helped him,” Steve whispers.

“No, you couldn’t have. No one even knew these people existed until I started digging around, you can’t blame yourself for that,” he says.

“Why were you looking?” Steve asks.

“Because you weren’t happy and I wanted you to have closure to your past so you could move on,” Tony says softly.

Steve nods and sets the file down, “I still want to die,” he tells Tony.

Tony nods, “I figured you would, I just wanted you to know beforehand,” he says.

Steve looks down at the picture of Bucky and smiles, “I guess I’ll get to see him again finally,” he says.

“No,” Tony says, “there’s nothing after this. I’m sorry.”

He looks sorry too, like he genuinely wanted something better for Steve and he nods, choosing to believe Tony meant that. He was angry with him keeping Steve alive for kicks all these years, but he didn’t do so while being completely ignorant to the consequences of Steve’s psyche. He could die angry or he could acknowledge that what’s done is done and just go in peace. He’d prefer the latter.

Tony holds out his hand and Steve takes it, gasping when he does so.

*

Natasha was impressed with Tony. He had gotten rather attached to Steve over the years and she hadn’t expected him to let go so easily. But Tony has never really been selfish- reckless and stupid yes, but selfish? Almost never. So when he holds out his hand to Steve with little hesitation she was impressed but not entirely surprised.

She was, however, surprised when Steve didn’t die. Tony and Steve look at each other for a long moment before Tony drops Steve’s hand and grabs it again. “Um. You aren’t dying,” Tony tells him, pointing out the obvious. “Why aren’t you dying?”

They panic over it for a long moment before Natasha takes pity on them both and makes her presence known. “Because he’s a reaper now, dumbass,” Natasha tells him.

Steve frowns, “what’s that mean?” he asks.

“It means you’re still immortal until you find someone to pass you legacy to,” Tony says.

“ _What_?” Steve asks, “what does that even mean?”

Tony sighs. “Each reaper is chosen after they’ve proven to understand death better than most, and they don’t die until they find a worthy successor to take over their job,” Tony says. “I ended up with this job after my dad died and passed it on to me, the selfish prick.”

“I… did you pass this on to me?” Steve asks, frowning.

Tony shakes his head, “no, this was just… how things ended up. Have you helped someone through death before?” he asks.

Steve goes to shake his head before he sighs, “actually, yeah. A few times.”

“You make their last moments better?” Tony asks and Steve nods, “then that’s why you were chosen. Sorry about that,” he says.

Natasha snorts, “you two are idiots. Lets go kill some people,” she says.

Steve looks between her and Tony, “is she a reaper too?” he asks.

Tony shakes his head, “Valkyrie,” he corrects.

“To Valhalla,” Steve says, sounding impressed.

“Valhalla is fake,” she and Tony say in sync and Steve sighs. He had a lot to learn.


End file.
